Six Days in Fallujah 'definitely not canceled'

Atomic Games has said that Six Days in Fallujah is "definitely not canceled" and that the controversial Iraq War shooter remains "very important" to the studio.

Peter Tamte, the president of Breach maker Atomic, told Digital Spy that he hopes to finish Six Days in Fallujah, but it will "require time and persistence".

Announced in 2009, Six Days in Fallujah was to be the first game based on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, taking inspiration from the Second Battle of Fallujah, in which 1,500 insurgents and 38 US troops reportedly lost their lives.

However, the game attracted criticism from Iraq war veterans in the UK and campaign group Stop the War Coalition, who claimed that it was insensitive to the victims of the battle and came too soon after the real events.

Former British Army colonel Tim Collins told a newspaper at the time: "It's much too soon to start making video games about a war that's still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history. It's particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game."

The slew of criticism resulted in a statement on April 28, 2009, from intended publisher Konami that it would not longer back the game.

Peter Tamte, the president of Atomic Games, said that Konami's decision to pull out of publishing Six Days in Fallujah cost Atomic "many millions of dollars".

An overall decline in the packaged games market then caused "many distributors that owed us money not to pay and virtually eliminating our ability to attract new investors for a packaged video game", he added.

However, despite all the controversies around Six Days in Fallujah, Tamte hopes one day that the shooter will be released.

"Six Days in Fallujah is definitely not canceled. It is very important to us for reasons far beyond just making a product that we finish Six Days," he said. "But, it will require time and persistence."